Symbols of bygone era

Bert Cambron, left, and Mark Wilson employees of Dayton National Cemetery move the vandalized Confederate soldier statue that stood in Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery on Aug. 22, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus police say vandals appear to have climbed on an arched memorial at Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery and toppled the statue atop the monument to the ground. The soldier's head and hat were knocked off. Police say the vandals took the head but left the hat. (Photo: Eric Albrecht, The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

It is ironic that Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee felt there should be no Civil War memorials constructed, as they would fester old war wounds.

His prophetic words came to life when practically all the Confederate memorials were constructed after the notorious 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson court decision legalizing segregation under the sham of separate but equal.

That decision took almost 60 years to overturn. Meanwhile, the first part of the 20th century was rife with lynchings and other racist outrages.

Perhaps those “very nice people” as described by the president, who were displaying the swastika and Ku Klux Klan banners in Charlottesville, should remember Gen. Lee’s advice and place those statues in their rightful place in museums as symbols of a bygone era.

Irving Bergman, Camarillo

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